Drake_Marcus

You have to admit that E_S_A_D wasn't even trying not to piss people off. He wasn't MaleLion bad, but he was bad.

Meh. He played, what, like 10 games? Daniel Cleary is the least of our concerns. It's comical to even get worked up about what amounts to a manager living up to a promise he made because ethically he feels compelled to if the result is so miniscule.

Holland's tournament, Holland's rules, eh.

Why doesn't Alfie do what Sundin did a few years back on the Canucks. Let your body rest for a few more months, spend the next 4 months getting healthy and spending time with your family, then in January if you are feeling 100% sign a 1 year deal. by that time, i'm sure someone on our team will have an injury and be on LTIR which will give us a much better picture of what we can sign him to.
I would much rather do that and sign him at 100%, then sign him now only to have him day-to-day a few weeks into the season because he is not fully healed. Its a win-win, we have no cap issues moving forward, we easily sign DD, Jurco starts off in the NHL, and Alfie can rest up. Better for us as well come playoff time, Alfie will have enough time to shake off the rust, but wont have to play 82 games which is better for his body.
Worst case scenario, come January he still feels hurt, its probably better we didn't sign him anyways, At that point, he can retire a Senator.
The only thin im not sure of, is can you do that in the new CBA? As far as I know he doesnt have to pass through waivers since he's not coming from the KHL (ie. Nabokov). I'm not 100% sure of the rules with the new CBA.

I think you should make this a four or five way poll and add in Dan Boyle, Tom Gilbert, Stephane Robidas, etc. That might be more illuminating. As it is, I had to pick between two guys who are better than every other defenseman on our team aside from Kronwall.

lol Do you really think Holland plans on burying Nyquist in the minors for very long? He's just making room so he can get a trade done for one of the veterans. This is 100% about asset management. Holland of all people wants Nyquist to play as much time in Detroit as possible. Think of it this way-- it'll be easier to find a trade partner once Bert and Sammy have a chance to show that they can still play and other teams find the need to add a veteran due to injuries. At this point in the season every organization is busy evaluating their young talent going into the pre-season.
It's in Holland's best interests to make sure the Wings' young talent has the optimal environment to thrive.

I think he's got the right idea. He's just taking the pictures out of the dressing room... if he feels that he needs to make a statement to his young players about looking forward instead of backward this is a pretty simple way to do it. It's not like the Oilers are taking banners down or changing anything other than the home dressing room.

I think he's got the right idea. He's just taking the pictures out of the dressing room... if he feels that he needs to make a statement to his young players about looking forward instead of backward this is a pretty simple way to do it. It's not like the Oilers are taking banners down or changing anything other than the home dressing room.

I think it'd be interesting to have a private panel consisting of the following:
--Current NHL goaltenders (a mix of stars and back-ups/young guys)
--Former NHL goaltenders (who played in the last 10 years)
--Engineers
--Persons who previously worked on product development/strategy for big hockey gear manufacturers
--Persons who previously or currently work on product development/strategy for big manufacturers of protective gear for other sports (American football in particular, don't take companies with a hockey division)
Have the final recommendations made available to the public *but* all names of contributing members are kept secret from the NHL, NHLPA and everyone else.
As an engineer I'd be really interested to read what a group like that came up with in terms of recommendations for rules/gear changes and even ideas for new gear innovations.

I think it'd be interesting to have a private panel consisting of the following:
--Current NHL goaltenders (a mix of stars and back-ups/young guys)
--Former NHL goaltenders (who played in the last 10 years)
--Engineers
--Persons who previously worked on product development/strategy for big hockey gear manufacturers
--Persons who previously or currently work on product development/strategy for big manufacturers of protective gear for other sports (American football in particular, don't take companies with a hockey division)
Have the final recommendations made available to the public *but* all names of contributing members are kept secret from the NHL, NHLPA and everyone else.
As an engineer I'd be really interested to read what a group like that came up with in terms of recommendations for rules/gear changes and even ideas for new gear innovations.

Holland's said a few times that Nyquist *will* be re-signed. Don't worry about that. I'd rather not take Cleary again because there's no roster space and it'd negatively impact the development of Tatar/Nyquist by pushing them back in the depth chart.
Unload Eaves (bummer but there's no room) and Tootoo right off the bat. Emmerton will have to stick around until they know for sure that Helm's back is fine.

For the record-- I think it sucks that they'd have to say goodbye to Eaves because Sammy can't be unloaded. I'd rather have Eaves for his versatility, aptitude at playing on the checking line and comparatively young age. Bert is worth keeping around for another year because the Wings need the size and he's helpful in the shoot-out if nothing else

Rookie Smith reminds me of rookie Kronwall. Don't forget how many moronic defensive plays and ill-advised pinches Kroner made as a young d-man.

Wow... players used to have to accept smaller cap hit numbers to get massive deals. 8 years at 7 mil per for a goalie is a HUGE deal. I understand why they'd be willing to take a risk on Rask but this shouldn't be thought of as anything other than a calculated risk. 7 mil for a goalie in today's NHL is a real risk.

Wow, Rick Dipietro to be bought out by the Islanders. Didn't see that one coming.
...said no one ever.

Holland is willing to play the 'quality NHL team' market price, not the Minnesota Wild inflated joke price. There's a reason why those joke, overpayment contracts are attached to joke teams.

Here's my shot at it:
FORWARDS
Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.800m)
Tomas Tatar ($0.840m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Nathan Horton ($5.000m)
Gustav Nyquist ($1.788m) / Joakim Andersson ($1.605m) / Damien Brunner ($3.050m)
Drew Miller ($1.350m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.200m)
Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Danny DeKeyser ($1.350m)
Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) / Brendan Smith ($1.827m)
Jakub Kindl ($2.050m) / Kyle Quincey ($3.775m)
Brian Lashoff ($0.725m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jimmy Howard ($5.292m)
Jonas Gustavsson ($1.500m)
OTHER
Buyout: Mikael Samuelsson ($0.000m)
Buyout: Todd Bertuzzi ($0.000m)
------
Trade: Carlo Colaiacovo
Trade: Jordin Tootoo
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled with the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,547,254; BONUSES: $1,010,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $4,762,746
Notes: Blue font denotes transactions/re-signings I made, red font denotes UFA signings from outside the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a nice, young roster (only 4 people that are 30 years of age or older and 4 players aged 29).
I assigned large costs to re-signing UFA and RFA players just to be safe. Holland can likely get better numbers than the ones I assigned.
Ideally I'd like to ditch Quincey and pick a true top pairing offensive defenseman up somewhere but the pickings are very, very slim. I'd avoid the UFA pool of offensive defensemen all together and look at RFA players.
Alex Pietrangelo is an RFA who is sure to be coveted by the entire league. St Louis has 20million in cap space to re-sign their RFA and UFA players. They'll have to get deals done for Chris Stewart, Kevin Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo, though, so that money is definitely needed (all three players would command significant salaries). Pietrangelo is easily the best player on that team in my opinion and you can bet it'd be virtually impossible to pry him away from them... but hey it's worth making a note of it.
David Rundblad is an RFA in Phoenix who might be of interest. He's big (6'2", 190lbs), young (22yrs) and a right hand shot. Phoenix acquired him from Ottawa in 2011 as part of the Turris trade.
Zach Bogosian is an RFA in Winnipeg who is also big (6'3", 215lbs), young (22yrs) and a right handed shooter.
Nick Leddy is an RFA in Chicago who isn't exactly big (5'11, 180lbs), but is young (22yrs), although he has a lefty shot. Chicago is going to struggle to sign their RFA/UFA players and may be forced to let some juicey ones go. I doubt they'd let Leddy go but hey, it's possible. With the move to the East it will be easier than ever to make a deal with Chicago.
Travis Hamonic is an RFA on the NY Islanders who fits the desirable profile: big (6'2", 206lbs), young (22yrs) and a right hand shot. His offensive numbers are mind-boggling (10g, 60pts in 183 NHL games) but he's a very solid two-way player.

The organizational depth is such that the Wings can likely afford to actually trade up right now. They could really use a home run scoring forward right now.

Here's my shot at it:
FORWARDS
Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.800m)
Tomas Tatar ($0.840m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Nathan Horton ($5.000m)
Gustav Nyquist ($1.788m) / Joakim Andersson ($1.605m) / Damien Brunner ($3.050m)
Drew Miller ($1.350m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.200m)
Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Danny DeKeyser ($1.350m)
Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) / Brendan Smith ($1.827m)
Jakub Kindl ($2.050m) / Kyle Quincey ($3.775m)
Brian Lashoff ($0.725m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jimmy Howard ($5.292m)
Jonas Gustavsson ($1.500m)
OTHER
Buyout: Mikael Samuelsson ($0.000m)
Buyout: Todd Bertuzzi ($0.000m)
------
Trade: Carlo Colaiacovo
Trade: Jordin Tootoo
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled with the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,547,254; BONUSES: $1,010,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $4,762,746
Notes: Blue font denotes transactions/re-signings I made, red font denotes UFA signings from outside the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a nice, young roster (only 4 people that are 30 years of age or older and 4 players aged 29).
I assigned large costs to re-signing UFA and RFA players just to be safe. Holland can likely get better numbers than the ones I assigned.
Ideally I'd like to ditch Quincey and pick a true top pairing offensive defenseman up somewhere but the pickings are very, very slim. I'd avoid the UFA pool of offensive defensemen all together and look at RFA players.
Alex Pietrangelo is an RFA who is sure to be coveted by the entire league. St Louis has 20million in cap space to re-sign their RFA and UFA players. They'll have to get deals done for Chris Stewart, Kevin Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo, though, so that money is definitely needed (all three players would command significant salaries). Pietrangelo is easily the best player on that team in my opinion and you can bet it'd be virtually impossible to pry him away from them... but hey it's worth making a note of it.
David Rundblad is an RFA in Phoenix who might be of interest. He's big (6'2", 190lbs), young (22yrs) and a right hand shot. Phoenix acquired him from Ottawa in 2011 as part of the Turris trade.
Zach Bogosian is an RFA in Winnipeg who is also big (6'3", 215lbs), young (22yrs) and a right handed shooter.
Nick Leddy is an RFA in Chicago who isn't exactly big (5'11, 180lbs), but is young (22yrs), although he has a lefty shot. Chicago is going to struggle to sign their RFA/UFA players and may be forced to let some juicey ones go. I doubt they'd let Leddy go but hey, it's possible. With the move to the East it will be easier than ever to make a deal with Chicago.
Travis Hamonic is an RFA on the NY Islanders who fits the desirable profile: big (6'2", 206lbs), young (22yrs) and a right hand shot. His offensive numbers are mind-boggling (10g, 60pts in 183 NHL games) but he's a very solid two-way player.

Pretty crazy considering this kid was a nearly 300pim player in the USHL. I think it was bold of him to sign with a college team. He's saying fighting isn't his all he has to offer and he wants to work on his playing skills elusively.
When you fight as much as he has it's really got to be come part of your hockey identity. It's pretty cool that we got the toughest player in that draft year and he's willing to put that aside for the time being to focus on the rest of his game. That shows that he's a focus, committed player who wants to be a pro.

The organizational depth is such that the Wings can likely afford to actually trade up right now. They could really use a home run scoring forward right now.

The organizational depth is such that the Wings can likely afford to actually trade up right now. They could really use a home run scoring forward right now.

The organizational depth is such that the Wings can likely afford to actually trade up right now. They could really use a home run scoring forward right now.

The organizational depth is such that the Wings can likely afford to actually trade up right now. They could really use a home run scoring forward right now.

The organizational depth is such that the Wings can likely afford to actually trade up right now. They could really use a home run scoring forward right now.

Holland is willing to play the 'quality NHL team' market price, not the Minnesota Wild inflated joke price. There's a reason why those joke, overpayment contracts are attached to joke teams.